Cambridge IELTS 18 Listening Test 2 with Answers | Practice Now

test two part one you will hear a woman from a job agency giving information to a man about work in a chain of restaurants first you have some time to look at questions 1 to five now listen carefully and answer questions 1 to five so I understand you're interested in restaurant work yes I've got a bit of experience and I can provide references that's good I can check all that later now my Milo's restaurants have some vacancies at the moment they're a really good company to work for lots of benefits all right yes they've got

a very good reputation for looking after staff for example all employees get training even temporary staff oh really that's quite unusual isn't it certainly is and do staff get free uniforms too um you just need to wear a white T-shirt and black trousers it says here so I guess not but another benefit of working for a big company like this is that you can get a discount at any of their restaurants even at weekends no but you'll be working then anyway oh yes I suppose so um most of their restaurants are in the city center

aren't they so easy to get to by bus yes that's right but if you have to do a late shift and finish work after midnight the company will pay for you to get a taxi home I probably won't need one I think I'd use my bike okay now they do have some quite specific requirements for the kind of person they're looking for Milos is a young Dynamic company and they're really keen on creating a strong team it's really important that you can fit in and get on well with everyone yeah I've got no problem with

that it sounds good actually the last place I worked for was quite demanding too we had to make sure we gave a really high level of service that's good to hear because that will be equally important at Milo's I know they want people who have an eye for detail that's fine I'm very used to working in that kind of environment perfect so the only other thing that's required is good communication skills so you'll need to have a certificate in English sure before you hear the rest of the you have some time to look at questions

6 to 10 now listen and answer questions 6 to 10 okay let's have a look at the current job vacancies at Milo's the first one is in Wen HHO Street sorry where wvho w i v n h o e it's quite Central just off Cork Street oh right they're looking for a breakfast supervisor that would be okay so you're probably familiar with the kind of responsibilities involved obviously checking that all the portions are correct Etc and then things like checking all the procedures for cleaning the equipment are being followed okay and what about the salary

in my last job I was getting £950 per hour I was hoping to get a bit more than that well to begin with you'd be getting £975 but that goes up to £125 after 3 months that's not too bad and I suppose it's a very early start that's the only unattractive thing about this job but then you have the afternoons and evenings free so the restaurant starts serving breakfast from 700 a.m. and you'd have to be there at 5:30 to set everything up but you'd be finished at 12:30 H well as you say there are

advantages to that now you might also be interested in the job at the city road Branch that's for a junior chef so again a position of responsibility I might prefer that actually right well obviously this role would involve supporting the Sue chef and other senior staff and you'd be responsible for making sure there's enough stock each week and sorting out all the deliveries I've never done that before but I imagine it's fairly straightforward once you get the hang of it yes and you'd be working alongside more experienced staff to begin with so I'm sure it

would be a problem the salary is slightly higher here it's an annual salary of £23,000 right I know that if they like you it's likely you'll be promoted quite quickly so that's worth thinking about yes it does sound interesting what are the hours like the usual I think there's a lot of evening and weekend work but they're closed on Mondays but you do get one Sunday off every four weeks so would you like like me to send off your SE that is the end of part one you now have one minute to check your answers

to part one you will hear a talk to members of the public about plans for a new Housing Development near a town called nunen first you have some time to look at questions 11 to 14 now listen to carefully and answer questions 11 to 14 hello everyone it's good to see that so many members of the public have shown up for our presentation on the new Housing Development planned on the outskirts of nunen I'm Mark Reynolds and I'm Communications manager at the development I'll start by giving you a brief overview of our plans for the

development so one thing I'm sure you'll want to know is why we've selected this particular site for a housing development at present it's being used for farming like much of the land around nunen but because of the new industrial center in nunen there's a lot of demand for housing for employees in the region as many employees are having to commute long distances at present of course there's also the fact that we have an international airport just 20 minutes driveway but although that's certainly convenient it wasn't one of our major criteria for choosing the site we

were more interested in the fact that there's an excellent hospital just 15 km away and a large Secondary School even closer than that one drawback to the site is that it's on quite a steep slope but we've taken account of that in our planning so it shouldn't be a major problem we've had a lot of positive feedback about the plans people like the wide variety of accommodation types and prices and the fact that it's only a short drive to get out into the countryside from the development we were particularly pleased that so many people liked

the designs for the layout of the development with the majority of people saying it generally made a good impression and Blended in well with the natural features of the landscape with provision made for protecting trees and Wildlife on the site some people have mentioned that they'd like to see more facilities for cyclists and we'll look at that but the overall feedback has been that the design and Facilities of the development make it seem a place where people of all ages can live together happily before you hear the rest of the talk have some time to

look at questions 15 to 20 now listen and answer questions 15 to 20 okay so I'll put a map of the proposed development up on the screen you'll see it's bounded on the South Side by the main road which then goes on to nunen another boundary is formed by London Road on the western side of the development inside the development there'll be about 400 houses and three apartment blocks there'll also be a school for children up to 11 years old if you look at the South entrance at the bottom of the map there's a road

from there that goes right up through the development the school will be on that road at the corner of the second turning to the left a large Sports Center is planned with facilities for indoor and outdoor activities this will be on the western side of the development just below the road that branches off from London Road there'll be a clinic where residents can go if they have any health problems can you see the lake towards the top of the map the clinic will be just below this to the right of a street of houses there'll

also be a community center for people of all ages on the northeast side of the development there'll be a row of specially designed houses specifically for residents over 65 and the community center will be adjoining this we haven't forgotten about shopping there'll be a supermarket between the two entrances to the development we're planning to leave the three large trees near London Road and it'll be just to the south of these it's planned to have a playground for younger children if you look at the road that goes up from the south entrance you'll see it curves

round to the left at the top and the playground will be in that curve with nice views of the lake okay so now does any anyone have any question that is the end of part two you now have 30 seconds to check your answers to part two you will hear two geography students Adam and Michelle talking about a volcanic eruption which took place in Iceland in 1783 first you have some time to look at questions 21 to 26 now listen carefully and answer questions 21 to 2 six so Michelle shall we make a start on

our presentation we haven't got that much time left no Adam but at least we've done all the background reading I found it really interesting I'd never even heard of the ly eruption before this me neither I suppose 1783 is a long time ago but it was a huge eruption and it had such devastating consequences I know it was great there were so many primary sources to look at it really gives you a sense of how catastrophic the volcano was people were really trying to make sense of the science for the first time that's right but

what I found more significant was how it impacted directly and indirectly on political events as well as having massive social and economic consequences I know that should be the main focus of our presentation h the observations made by people at the time were interesting weren't they I mean they all gave a pretty consistent account of what happened even if they didn't always use the same terminology yeah I was surprised there were so many weather stations established by that time so you know you can see how the weather changed often by the hour right writers at

the time talked about the ly Haze to describe the volcanic fog that spread across Europe they all realized that this wasn't the sort of fog they were used to and of course this was in pre-industrial times so they hadn't experienced sulfur smelling fog before no that's true reports from the period blamed the haze for an increase in headaches respiratory issues and asthma attacks and they all describe how it covered the Sun and made it look a strange red color M must have been very weird it's interesting that Benjamin Franklin wrote about the haze did you

read that he was the American ambassador in Paris at the time yeah at first no one realized that the haze was caused by the volcanic eruption in Iceland it was Benjamin Franklin who realized that before anyone else he's often credited with that apparently but a French naturalist beat him to it I can't remember his name I'd have to look it up then other naturalists had the same idea all in dependently of each other oh right we should talk about the immediate impact of the eruption which was obviously enormous especially in Iceland where so many people

died you'd expect that and the fact that the volcanic ash drifted so swiftly but not that the effects would go on for so long or that 2 years after the eruption strange weather events were being reported as far away as North America and North Africa no I found all that hard to believe too it must have been terrible and there was nothing anyone could do about it even if they knew the ashcloud was coming in their Direction before you hear the rest you have some time to look at questions 27 to 30 now listen and

answer questions 27 to 30 we should run through some of the terrible consequences of the eruption experienced in different countries there's quite a varied range starting with I land where the impact on farming was devastating one of the most dramatic things there was the effect on livestock as they grazed in the fields they were poisoned because they ate vegetation that had been contaminated with Florine as a result of the volcanic Fallout that was horrible in Egypt the bizarre weather patterns led to a severe drought and as a result the Nile didn't flood which meant the

crops all failed it's so far from where the eruption happened and yet the famine there led to more people dying than any other country it was worse than the plague okay then in the UK the mortality rate went up a lot presumably from respiratory illnesses according to one report it was about double the usual number and included an unusually high percentage of people under the age of 25 I think people will be surprised to hear that the weather in the USA was badly affected too George Washington even makes a note in his diary that they

were snowbound until March in Virginia that was before he became president yes and there was Ice floating down the Mississippi which was unprecedented oh astonishing really anyway what do you think we should include next that is the end of part three you now have 30 seconds to check your answers to part three you will hear a student on a fashion design course giving a talk about the history of pockets first you have some time to look at questions 31 to 40 e now listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 40 good morning now we've been

asked to choose an aspect of European clothing or fashion and to talk about its development over time I decided to focus on a rather small area of clothing and that's Pockets I chose pockets for two reasons really we all have them in jeans jackets coats for example and even though we often carry bags or briefcases as well nothing is quite as convenient as being able to pop your phone or credit card into your pocket yet I suspect that other than that people don't really think about Pockets too much and they're rather overlooked as a fashion

item it's certainly very interesting to go back in time and see how Pockets developed for men and women in the 18th century Fashions were quite different from the way they are now and Pockets were too if we think about male fashion first that was the time when suits became popular trousers were knee length only and referred to as breaches the waste Coats were short and the jackets were long but all three garments were lined with material and Pockets were sewn into this cloth by whichever tailor the customer used the wearer could then carry small objects

such as pencils or coins on their person and reach them through a gap in the lining coat Pockets became increasingly decorative on the outside for men who wanted to look Stu stylish but they were often larger but plainer if the wearer was someone with a profession who needed to carry medical instruments a doctor or physician for example the development of women's Pockets was a little different for one thing they weren't nearly as visible or as easy to reach as men's in the 18th than 19th centuries women carried numerous possessions on their person and some of

these could be worth a lot of money women were more vulnerable to theft and Wealthy women in particular worried constantly about Pick Pockets so what they did was to have a pair of pockets made that were tied together with string the pockets were made of fabric which might be recycled cloth if the wearer had little money or something more expensive such as linen sometimes featuring very delicate embroidery women tied the pockets around their waist so that they hung beneath their clothes remember skirts were long then and there was plenty of room to hide a whole

range of small possessions between the layers of pet coats that were commonly worn they would have an opening in the folds of their skirts through which they could reach whatever they needed like their perfume working women of course also needed to carry around items that they might use for whatever job or trade they were involved in but their pairs of pockets still remained on the inside of their clothing they just got bigger or longer sometimes reaching down to their knees so the tie on Pockets went well into the 19th century and only changed when fashion

altered towards the end of that period That's when dresses became Tighter and less bulky and the pairs of pockets became very noticeable they stood out too much and detracted from the woman's image women who had been used to carrying around a range of personal possessions and still wanted to needed somewhere to carry these items about their person that was when small bags or pouches as they were known came into fashion and of course they inevitably LED onto the handbag of more modern times particularly when fashion removed pockets all together that is the end of part

four you now have one minute to check your answers to part four [Music] that is the end of the listening test in the IELTS test you would now have 10 minutes to transfer your answers to the listening answer sheet